Should Education be Intertwined with Happiness?

Ridiculous question right? Of course students and teachers should be happy. Everyone deserves happiness. But do we design our lessons, classrooms and schools around the premise of happiness? Schools were created for learning. To gain knowledge that will help individuals become productive citizens and well-rounded adults. They were structured to provide opportunities for social and peer interaction. But schools were not organized to create a platform for happiness. Why?

When we as humans are happy we feel fulfilled and our purpose becomes more clear. We find our way to the shelves of information about our interests. We study things that enlighten us and challenge us. We take a path towards a field that will provide us joy and stability- in most cases. At least we believe they will. But, when we are given opportunities to test the waters and seek different avenues of information, we tend to find what works best for us. Lucrative or not.

When we as students are presented with questions and situations where we ourselves can find the answers- we tend to be more intrigued. The answers tend to be more honest and meaningful to us. When we are asked to think for ourselves, push ourselves, fail and rethink, analyze and reflect- we get a sense of ourselves deeper than any book could instill. We find happiness in the struggle.

When we are learning just past our capacity, we feel a sense of urgency.  This desperation, the fuel for our endeavor of achievement. Our goals are both personal, and deeply ingrained in our psyche. Our work ethic is often gathered from experience and parental influence. But the assemblage of our drive, our motivation and flow happens, because of how we are allowed to learn. Allowed to learn, yes. When we are given choice and opportunity to contextualize and organize a system of learning we know works best for us- it matters more than anything.

This makes us happy. It helps us feel in control and confident. It creates a platform on which we stand. Which we can rise to a challenge upon, or sit tight and watch things unfold upon. This platform is as large or small as we require. It gives us a safe haven. A secure vantage point to be able to see the bombardment of new information, before it is launched. We expect the barrage, we just feel better when we get a warning before it happens.

Often in school, students don’t get the opportunity to sign the warranty. They just have to prepare to catch the hazard vaulted at them. The hazard of learning in a time where there is so much uncertainty and doubt. But when we stop and allow our students to find the right pen and sign the dotted line, we give them control of the paperwork. We are asking them, “How do you need to be presented this information?” We are telling them “The warranty gives you room for rethinking.”

It is their paperwork after all. Getting them to read the fine print, that takes skill. That takes subtle persuasion that happens, when we as teachers, step back, and let them read. Let them choose to be in charge. It is empowering to feel in charge. To feel the heft of leadership of oneself. When students feel grounded, purposeful and happy- they are open for new information. They feel they can handle it. They accept it willingly and this gives them the power.

In other words, power helps us feel pride and confidence and this in turn, helps us feel positive and happy. Eager to seek out more opportunities to feel the same. Shouldn’t this be the goal of education? To simply provide opportunities for self-expression and self-advocacy, so happiness arises and sticks. A happy person , tends to be positive and hopeful. This leads to curiosity and discovery and then learning. Not fleeting knowledge, but substantial, enduring growth.

Students are overwhelmed and bogged down in a quagmire of virtual isolation, or in class distancing- either way they feel unbalanced. When we feel unbalanced, we are spending all our time adjusting to the tilt- and not paying attention to the scenery. We want students to connect with the scenery- that is the lesson. That is the activity. That is the interaction and collaboration. That is ultimately happiness.

Should students and teachers focus more on happiness than mere learning? I think so because without a certain level of positivity and optimism- learning is always stunted. It is always just out of reach. How can we bring more happiness into our classrooms as teachers? That is up to individual teachers. I find certain things work for me and my students, while you might have an entirely different repertoire- or we might just have a lot in common.

But what matters most, especially these days, is to find the moments. The positivity bubbles, the sparkles and fanfare that lightens spirits and brings smiles to faces. The times where students can just have a little fun. Be kids. Socialize. And coat it all with a layer of learning that does not hinder happiness but that heightens it. This will make you happy, students happy and school a happy place indeed.

Isn’t that what we need now, today, every day- positivity, kindness and compassion. Because when we have it, sticking to us like lint, we carry it around with us in our pockets, on our sleeves, and our collars. This lint eventually becomes threaded and intertwined with more lint and then lying before us, we have a massive web of positivity and happiness. We can’t be happy every moment, but we can look for ways to be happy more often. Happiness takes awareness. Be aware of the lint.

So before you toss the lint, wriggle it in your fingers a bit. Put it in your pocket with your change- and it will come in useful when you need it. Just reach for it. Happiness is not a permanence, but it is sustainable. In schools it is achievable. It is the embodiment of self-fulfilment and challenge, acceptance and achievement and above all else- listening and rethinking. Learning truly happens when it is entangled with laughter and relevance. When happiness is built into the curriculum- the curriculum is more impressive, more meaningful and well....indelible.

What does happiness have to do with learning? Everything. What is happiness? The joy of figuring things out. The pride in accomplishment. Knowing you are loved and appreciated. Feeling connected. Enjoying the tasks you are presented with. Given the opportunity to choose and feel empowered. To be heard. To be valued. Education is all of these things. We just need to remember to focus on them during this time of upheaval- because happiness leads to learning and that is why we are here right?

Specs, Bubbles and Sparkles

Our Perspective- personal focus, directional outlook, our vision of the world. Can we change it? Do we have a choice? Are we locked into a pace not of our own? There is so much volatile, toxic judgement swirling about- it weighs heavy- a dense fog, illuminating the darkness. We have been submersed in its shadow for so long. 

But, regardless of the trauma of the last year- we can walk through the haze together. 

We have to make a conscious choice to walk into a positivity bubble.

So much has taken place this last year. We popped more positivity bubbles than we made. This disheartened us. It caused us to pause in our bubble making.

We seemed to have forgotten that there is always a place that is sunny. Always room for bubbles.

We deserve the warmth and glisten of those rays. The light that glistens. The hopeful wisp of soapy suds generating circular, floating, shiny, droplets of effervescence.  But we have some work to do first. We have to accept our loses and look towards our successes. Our new achievements. Our new avenues.

Bubbles can only take flight if we give the air around us a place to escape. The fields are open.

We just might have to walk a bit further than we are used to, to find them these days. But our avenues are many and our vehicles plentiful. Just open the door, sit down, and start the ignition. 

We might just burn our feet on hot pavement. But we have to endure the sharpness to remind ourselves where we came from.

We need not necessarily climb up a huge hill, or cross fields of lava and ash. But we have to move. Go forward. Progress. As much as we raise our feet, we will drag at times.

We will scuff our pristine white sneakers in the process. Change is messy. It takes bravery and will power. It takes acceptance of imperfection and ignorance. Acknowledging that we often ignore situations. That sometimes we do not know about them. 

But we can't pretend not to recognize our role in them.

We scuffle through at times only noticing the specs. The blemishes, the pocks and scars. We try to cover them up, rather than deal with the cause of them. The specs are what make us human. What make us a civilization. A community. A neighborhood. A family.

We scuffle at times only noticing the sparkles. The shiny, happy moments of joy. The wins. The opportunities and possibilities gifted to us. We celebrate. The sparkles give us hope. They show us that our goals and actions matter. They make us human. They make us a civilization. A community. A neighborhood. A family.

Specs and sparkles do not happen in a vacuum. They rarely occur simultaneously. They do not happen in isolation. They are blended like seeds floating through a forest, creating new life. They are like grains of sand, silicon and rock- smashed to pieces by wind and rain until they are microscopic memories of life. Ever present on our car floors after a day at the beach.

Specs and sparkles are intertwined. Moment to moment on some days. It takes all our energy to persist and sweep them into a pile. Like leaves raked on an autumn day only for a breeze to disperse them again. Specs and sparkles are extensions of us. They carry parts of us.

They embody our thoughts, actions, notions and opinions. They rise in the current and drift in the flow. They dust across great plains and fill up deep valleys. They change the surface of everything. These granules of hope and fear. Resistant. Resolute. They travel. They soar. They rest.

Every scratch they cause, every abrasion they gouge- in the end, they leave a smooth surface ready for the next batch to arrive. We expect them. Their presence means something is happening. That we are experiencing life. I for one welcome the pocks and dents. Scraps and scratches. 

I seek the specs and sparkles. And at the end of the day- I revel in the marks left behind by my day. I am blessed to be able to be out in the world. Day to day living my life as normal as normal can be these days. I know I am blessed and for that reason alone- I shrug off the discomfort and embrace the grains.

I am looking up to a sky full of positivity bubbles. Some may pop before they come close. But I have access to the soapy suds. For this I am thankful. 

  

Let's Pretend its a Biome- A Classroom Ecosystem

This is a field, a plateau, a mountain range that we find ourselves within. One we find ourselves climbing and walking across every day- this is our chosen location. This is our self-actualized, self-designed geography. Every one of us has our own limitations, our own strengths, our own latitude and longitude- where we have built our home. Our classroom residence. The habitat we have built.

A living breathing entity- busting with renewal, decomposition and change. Succumbing to the seasons. Pivoting with the sunrise and sunset. Enduring the harsh, bitter layers of snow, only to be revitalized with the dew and pollen of spring. This world we enter daily, this cornucopia of energy, this fluctuation of amazing growth and subtle expectations- it is exactly what we make of it.

Let's pretend, if for no other reason than our imaginations keep us full of anticipation and hope- that we can see beyond the place. Let's pretend it is any landscape our hearts desire: desert, jungle or ocean. Each full of life and transition. Within each a hidden city, a bustling interaction of flora and fauna. Yet, unless we are in a vast, overgrown forest, we rarely see. Let's pretend we see it.

Let's envision knowledge chains and knowledge webs- levels of exchange and development. Cascading, continuous, scaffolds of incremental progress- punctuated equilibrium. For slow, advancing innovation lasts. It intertwines with the present, it wraps itself around the roots of formidable positive revision. This ecosystem is, as with all nature, modifying to its circumstances. Our circumstances.

Evolving, expanding, emanating it rustles to attention, with the winds of thought and action. 

At times dormant, but for the most part, sprouting new networks: mycelium, canopies, ground dwelling creatures. Adaptations springing forth as climate hinders. Paths well worn are covered with overgrowth. Once rooted, ideas grow tall. Forests grow thick, expanding- providing shelter, nourishment and security for residences to thrive.

Let's pretend that no matter our preferred venue- we are open for travel. We are excited about change- because that is how our ecosystem thrives. Let's pretend that words and actions of those who have never walked amongst our trees, placed their feet within the grains of sand- that surround us on a daily basis- do not deforest or destroy our hope.

Let's pretend that the inhabitants of our ecosystem find their niche. Find the tools to construct the habitat they desire. So they can see the world from the perspective of their choosing. Let's secure the location, keep watch, settle in as sentinels every one of us, perched a top the branches of opportunity. So that we can bend them low and stretch them far and wide, lift them high above ourselves- so every child can grab hold and find their perch.

Education is an ecosystem- and teachers choose their landscape every day. They choose to entangle in learning and watch the giant leaves gather water in which their students drink. They create the paradise and oasis's that attract and hydrate the soul. They create safe environments, havens of learning, where voices call out directions to find the watering hole. To gather and build community. To form an interchange so vast- continents are connected.

Let's pretend for a moment our classroom is not isolated. That is has this mycelial network, a deep, vast web of connection- just like the ecosystems of planet Earth. These ecosystems are all bordered by another. Each folding into one another. Each transitioning into one another. This is education. Webs, herds, flocks, prides and populations. Interconnected with diversity and variation. Layered with levels of beauty and succession. 

Seasons bring change. Climate shifts the flora from dense to light. Temperature shifts the fauna from scavengers and migratory animals- to residents and predators. Every ecosystem bustling to different degrees. Yet every one of them unique. Everyone of them alive with hope. Transitioning and evolving. Ebbing and flowing. Growing and lying dormant. But each with the energy of life.

Let's pretend our ecosystem is awakening from a spell of dormancy. Sprouts uncurling in the sunlight. Animals awakening from their slumber. The stillness swirling into a noise, a sound, an interchange alive with opportunity. Vibrating with growth. Singing, chirping, howling- with battle cries far and wide. We are no longer entombed- we are stretching our minds, our bodies and entering our ecosystems.

Ever evolving, expanding, emanating. Branches connecting. Behemoths rising from the canopy. Reaching great heights. The undergrowth thriving- rising taller and huddling together into a bustling city. Insects, animals, fungus taking their spots- adding their energy. Every layer- reaching its purposeful progression. This is our ecosystem- never ceasing to expand and evolve. Never ebbing the emanation of energy. 

Let's pretend we have all the energy we need to thrive within its borders. We have all the grace of sustainability. All the hope of regeneration. Our role, our niche in this grand, stunning, gregarious, steadfast, bountiful world of education is ours to decide. But, no matter what you choose- you are integral. You are indispensable. 

You are a constituent in its vastness. It covers every corner of the planet- like the expansive ecosystems of the globe. Your role can change. Your path can veer. But your voice will echo within the chamber of its essence. Every one of us is fundamental. Every educator is intrinsic to the heartbeat of the ecosystem we call education. Close your eyes and listen, for its pulsation is universal. You know it is. You have felt it.

Every morning when you enter your classroom, or the hallways of the ecosystem you live in- whether forest, estuary, savannah or tundra- know you make a difference. Know unequivocally, you are a resident here in this global biosphere- we are members of a great society. A phenomenal pedagogic planet of surveyors, purveyors and conveyors. Of learners, listeners and loyal servants. We are educators. 

We are teachers, administrators, custodians, librarians, cafeteria staff, security officers, parents, students, volunteers- we are all members of the ecosystem. So we may pretend our ecosystem is our own- yet, we know it is not. We may pretend what we do does not make a difference- but every little thing we do in this ecosystem matters. We change the discourse. We change the course, the flow, patterns and outcomes.

For that, we do not need to pretend. We need to engage and feel our presence in this pulsating, fast paced world. We need to continue the evolution, expansion and emanation of evidence, information and innovation. But every once in awhile- we also need to not take ourselves so seriously. 

We need to forgive our misjudgments and misunderstandings and grow from them. We need to stop, close our eyes and listen- for the ecosystem it hums with truth. It ticks and tickles our senses with hope and grace. We need to embrace the ecosystem and make sure our branches lift up and connect us with others. 

The ecosystem of education is never isolated, never down for the count- because it is forever fluctuating and stretching. So let's pretend we have a say in its success, its sustainability. Why? Because we do. But sometimes pretending a bit, imagining that it looks like a thriving forest can be helpful- because it gives us a sense of wonder. A sense of connection - and this, well this, is the reason we are in this ecosystem right?

Listen to the hum. The vibration. The bustle and the moments of stillness. But listen. Then generate your contribution and sign it loudly for all to hear. You will be amazed at who answers your call.